


Day 019

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [19]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22318885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Relationships: Merrill/Noll (Dragon Age OC)
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 3





	Day 019

Merrill spent all afternoon getting ready for her evening with her new friend. She had painted her nails (fingers and toes), washed and braided her hair and even dug up some of the jewelry her mother had gifted her when she left to become Merithari’s first. There was a necklace of halla horn and raven feathers, and earrings set with bloodstone gems.

Merrill left her staff behind, she didn’t imagine she would need it for a friendly dinner and it was always awkward when she arrived at someone's house with, what looked like a spear, and tried to fit it in their walking stick holder. Except when she visited Hawke, he had a special staff-rest in his vestibule. There was a small part of Merrill that felt guilty going to see her new friend, she still haden’t learned his name.

But no. Hawke has made it clear where they stood. It was time to move on.

Merrill left her house an hour before sundown. Despite the fading light the world seemed brighter than the last time she stepped outside. The air smelled fresh, or maybe she was just getting used to the smells of Kirkwall.

She paused to attach her ball of twine to her door handle. Her friend had given her a good description of how to get to his house from hers but not how to get back. You would think it would be as simple as following the directions in reverse. You would think.

Trailing her twine behind herself, Merrill made it across the Alianage to her friend’s house. It was well cared for, as elven houses went. Nothing was rotting our peeling or falling over. It was even better than Merrill’s house, although she made an effort to ensure that the facade of her home was exactly average for the Alianage despite the fact that she made enough money working with Hawke to have the fanciest house in the neighborhood. Varric has said that was important if she didn’t want to draw attention to herself.

She knocked on the door. A flock - or was it a swarm?- of butterflies took flight in her belly. There was a brief pause, some muffled voices and the door opened.

Merrill had expected her new friend to be on the other side, but it was a boy of maybe seven or eight. He had the same long blond hair and blue eyes as her friend but the rest of his features were different. 

“Noll, it’s you’re special friend!,” he called out to the inside. “I’m Peter,” he said to Merrill. “You’re Merrill the witch who saved is from the fires.”

“I’m not a witch,” Merrill said incredulously. “I was trained as a Keeper of the Dalish.”

“Do you want to see something neat?” Peter asked. Merrill nodded expecting the boy to produce a toad or a shiny rock or something. Instead the boy coated his hand in stone.

“Peter,” a woman shouted from deeper inside. “Don’t do that with the door open!”

The boy led his magic and gestured for Merrill to come inside. He closed the door behind her and she set her twine ball down just inside. A blond woman came into view and pulled Peter aside by his ears. 

“You need to be careful or someone will call the templars on you and they’ll take you away to the circle.”

“Merrill won’t call the templars on me,” The boy protested. “Will you?”

“By the Creators no! I would never call the templars on anyone. They’re always so grumpy all the time. Although I suppose I can’t really blame them, It must get dreadfully hot in that armor. Their boots are probably filled with little puddles of sweat.”

Peter giggled at that, and not in the way people normally laughed at her rambling. 

“Do you want to see something, ah, neat?” She asked Peter. He nodded managing to never take his eyes of Merrill. She focused her mana and converted her entire body in rocks. The woman made a startled noise but Peter clapped his hands in delight.

“You look like a golem!”

“The stone lives beneath Orlais,” She boomed in the deepest voice she could muster. Peter and the woman both looked ah her in confusion.

“I’ve only met one golem who could speak,” She explained dispelling her rock armor. “That’s the sort of thing he would say.”

“You’ve met a real live golem?” Peter asked. Before Merrill could answer her friend appeared. He was wearing an apron that was covered in floor and what was probably sauce.

“Merrill,” he said. “I’m so glad you came. This is my nephew Peter and my sister Gale.” Merrill felt a tension she hadn't realized she had been carrying ease. When Gale has first appeared she had thought she might have been her friend’s wife.

“Noll has told us so much about you,” Gale said. “They say we have you to thank for the rain that put out the fires.

Noll! Merrill was determined not to forget again. Noll, Noll, Noll, Noll, Noll.

“Well, he helped, lots of people did. I’m sure I would have fouled it up without someone with a bit of common sense helping.”

“Hey,” came the voice of her another man. He was tall and wide for an elf. His tunic doing little to hide his muscles. “Someone with some skill at cooking needs to come back to the kitchen our dinner will burn. Or grow cold, I can’t tell which.” Everyone laughed at some joke Merrill didn’t understand. 

“This is Mathias my brother-in-law and the best friend I could ask for.” 

“Their just saying that because they can’t share their true feelings about me in polite company. But seriously someone should do something to this food.”

“I’ll handle it,” Grace said. “I’ll leave you three to entertain our guest. 

Merrill had a delightful evening with Noll and their family. Peter was filled with questions about magic and all the adventures she had been on with Hawke. Everyone was curious about their adventures in the Deep Roads to the abandoned Thaig. They talked and laughed and ate well into the night. Merrill lost all track of time. This was what a family was supposed to be. This was what it felt like to be accepted without reservation. It was a new feeling for Merrill and a cynical part of her wondered how she was going to mess everything up this time.


End file.
